
e """^ 



Eacn Siaie a St 
Each Siar aSmt( 



-":i. 





Book. 



CopiglitN?- 



^ 17 



COPYRIGRT DEPOSm 



THE STARS 



OF 



OUR COUNTRY 

A COLLECTION OF POEMS 

BY 

WILLIAM LIGHTFOOT VISSCHER 

TO WHICH IS ADDID 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE 




THE NATIONAL PRESS 



NATIONXrmBHlNG CO. 
No. 241 So. American SL 



lF^lr^lr=^rP=^l?=^f 



■^f 



OLD GLORY. 

Words by Wm. L. Visscher. 






^ 



?y^>p^ 



HIGH flies the flag- of Freedom 
By Columbia unfurled, 
And gracefully 'tis draping' 
In the breezes of the world ; 
Bright shine the gleaming galaxy 

Of inter-twinkling stars, 
Where stream in majesty its folds 
Of white and crimson bars. 



V 



CHORUS. 

Ho ! all the world. Behold " Old Glory !' 
Sing ye freemen, the gallant story ; 
See it waving in the sun-bright light, 
Where its Red, White and Blue unite. 
High among its undulating bars, 
Radiant gleam its Heaven-born stars ; 
'Tis Columbia's flag that proudly flies 
To kiss sweet Freedom in the skies. 



It is the flag that patriots 

Have nobly followed when 
Fierce battle's blight has tried the souls 

Of truest, bravest men, 
And when, betimes, 'twas only seen 

Within the rifting cloud 
Before whose storm of leaden hail 

War's sable plume has bowed. 

Now let the Nation's bells ring out, 

And all her banners wave. 
While Freedom's light from Freedom's sun 

The living world shall lave ; 
As "we join the loyal nations, 

For Humanity and Peace, 
May the lord of Hosts uphold us 

And our praises never cease. 



^ 



Eutered according to Act of Congross, ia the year 1917. Iiv-'National Publishing Co., 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, ^r Washington, D. C. 



AUG-3i9iPaA47:3uii 



PREFACE. 



WHEX W1LL1A:\I LJGHTFOOT VISSCHEE, the well-known 
poet, composed the poems in this volume, one for each 
State in the Union, he also had in mind the thoug-ht: 
'* The Sisterhood of States," a family Union, each State an indi- 
vidual nnit, yet gTonped as a whole and forming- '* THE STAES 
OF OUR COUNTRY." 

A poem for a State and the seal of that State are printed 
on one page. On the ojiposite page, facing- the poem, appears a 
picture representing- some j)articvdar thing, persoilage or place 
for which that State is noted. As each State or Territory is 
famed for numerous and diversified great things, and has its 
many places of universal interest, as shown in history, the illus- 
trations selected for this work stand forth as being represen- 
tative. 

As the author has said, the x^oems, taken as a whole, can be 
likened to '* A Garland of Roses and Pansies." The illustrations 
picture inii)ortaiit historical events or show noted persons, 
places or things as connected with the States — ^the Stars of 
''Old Glory." 

This book touches the spots of interest and stirs true patriot- 
ism, and its binding influence has a x)erinanent effect as well 
as educational value. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



•^^f 



ir=^lF^lP^l 



l^l^l^F 



NATIONAL HYMN. 

Rev. S. F. Smith. 1832. 

MY country ! 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of libert3', 
Of thee I sing ; 
Land where my fathers died ! 
Land of the Pilgrim's pride ! 
From ev'ry mountain side 
Let freedom ring. 

My native country, thee, 
Land of the noble free, 

Thy name I love ; 
I love thy rocks and rills. 
Thy woods and templed hills ; 
My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 



1^ 



^ 
^ 



Let music swell the breeze 
And ring from all the trees. 

Sweet freedom's song ; 
Let mortal tongues awake ; 
Let all that breathe partake ; 
Let rocks their silence break; 

The sound prolong. 

Our father's God to Thee, 
Author of liberty, 

To Thee we sing ; 
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom's holy light ; 
Protect us by Thy might, 

Great God, our King. 



'• America," National Hymn, appears to have been Issued In 
1836 by a Boston music publisher, in a collection of Psalm tunes. 
In this collection, entitled "Boston Academy," "America" 
appeared. 



IF^I 



;^f 



llP^lr^lf 



iP^f 






THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. 

Francis Scott Key. 1814. 

OH, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last 
gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming ? 
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. 
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep. 

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes. 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep. 

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream : 

'Tis the star-spangled banner ; oh, long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ! 

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore 
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 

A home and a country should leave us no more ? 
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution, 

No refuge could save the hireling and slave 

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave ; ' 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave I 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand ] 1 

Between their loved home and wild war's desolation ; I 

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land 
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation ! I 

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, | 

And this be our motto : " In God is our trust !" 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, I 

O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave. I 

"The Slar-Spangled Banner," composed by Francis Scott Key, I 
of Baltimore, at the time of the bombardment of Fort McHenry [ 
in 1814, is generally recognized as the National Anthem of the I 
United States. Mr. Key died in 1846. At San Francisco a menu- I 
ment costing 8150,000 has been erected to his meniory. On July | 
26th, 1889, a general order was issued by the Secretary of the Navy I 
that "The Star-Spangled Banner" be played by the band on all | 
?hips in commission at " Morning Colors." I 



^;^=^'r^,=^f^r=^ 



BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. 

Julia Ward Howe. 

MINE eyes have seen the glory of the coming of 
the Lord, 
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes 
of wrath are stored, 
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible 

swift sword, 
His truth is marching on. 



I have seen Him in the watchiires of a hundred cir- ^^ 

cling camps, |^^ 

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews ^^ 

and damps, ^^ 

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flar- |^^ 

ing lamps, i^^ 

His day is marching on. I^^ 

I have read a fiery gospel, writ in rows of burnished steel, |^ 
" As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace ^^ 

shall deal, ^^ 

Let the Hero, born of Avoman, crush the serpent with j^ 

his heel, ^^ 

Since God is marching on." ^^ 

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call |^^ 

retreat, ^^ 

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment 1^^ 

0, be swift my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet ! 1^ 
Our God is marching on. ^^ 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, ^^ 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me ; ^^ 
As He died to make men ho\y, let us die to make men |^^ 
free, ^^ 

While God is marchincr on. ^S 



Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was in Washinglou, D. C, in 1861, when 
the city was full of soldiers and patriotic spirit Avas astir. The 
inspiration came to her during tiie singing of Army Songs, and 
when the John Brown song came to her mind. She then made 
some notes, and during the following night awoke before dawn, 
took these notes ai>d wrote the verses. James T. Fields, at that 
time editor of the /Atlantic Monthly, revised the title. 




Joseph Hopkinson. 1798. 

HAIL Columbia, happy land! 
Hail, ye heroes, heav'n-born band. 
Who foiig'ht and bled in freedom's cause, 
Who fought and bled in freedom's cause, 
And when the storm of war was gone, 
Enjoy'd the peace your valor won. 
Let independence be our boast. 
Ever mindful what it cost ; 
Ever grateful for the prize. 
Let its altar reach the skies. 

Firm, united, let us be, 
Eallying round our liberty. 
As a band of brothers join'd, 
Peace and safety we shall find. 






1^ 



^ 



Immortal patriots, rise once more, 
Defend your rights, defend your shore ! 
Let no rude foe, with impious hand. 
Let no rude foe, with impious hand. 
Invade the shrine where sacred lies 
Of toil and blood, the well-earn'd prize. 
While off'ring peace, sincere and just. 
In Heav'n we place a manly trust. 
That truth and justice will prevail. 
And ev'ry scheme of bondage fail. 

Behold the chief who now commands, 
Once more to serve his country stands 
The rock on which the storm will beat. 
The rock on which the storm will beat, 
But armed in virtue, firm and true, 
His hopes are fixed on Heav'n and you. 
When hope was sinking in dismay. 
When glooms obscur'd Columbia's day, 
His steady mind, from changes free. 
Resolved on death or liberty. 



1=^ 






1=^ 



1^ 



" Hail Columbia," composed by Joseph Hopkiusou, LL.U., was 
first sung in public in Philadelphia, by a young singer named 
Fox, in 1798. It was considered the National Anthem for years 
after "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written, and in 1889 was 
ordered to be played on all ships in commission at "Evening 
Colors." 




COLUMBIA, GOD PRESERVE THEE FREE! 

Joseph Haydn. 

ARK of Freedom! Glory's dwelling-! 
Columbia, God preserve thee free ! 
When the storms are round thee swelling-. 

Let thy heart be strong in thee, 
God is with thee, wrong repelling: 
He alone thy chamjiion be. 

Ark of Freedom ! Glory's dwelling ! 

Columbia, God preserve thee free ! 
x\rk of Freedom! Glory's dwelling! 

Columbia, God preserve thee free ! 

Land of high, heroic glory ; 

Land whose touch bids slavery flee : 
Land whose name is writ in story, 

Eock and refuge of the free : 
Ours thy greatness — ours thy glory ; 

We will e'er be true to thee. 

Vainly 'gainst thine arm contending. 
Tyrants know thy might, and flee. 

Freedom's cause on earth defending. 

Man has set his hope on thee; ' 

Widening glory — peace unending — | 

Thy reward and portion be. | 

These beautiful words never grow old. They are as timely and i 
fitting for the present as when the verses were first composed 
and put into print. They will live and continue to ring as long 
as " Freedom " remains the battle-cry of humanity and the I 
nations of the earth. 



^ 



COLUMBIA, THE GEM OF THE OCEAN. 

D. T. Shaw. 

OH, Columbia, the gem of the ocean, 
The home of the brave and the free, 
The shrine of each patriot's devotion, 
A world offers homage to thee. 
Thy mandates make heroes assemble, 
When Liberty's form stands in view ; 
Thy banners make tyranny tremble, 

When borne by the red, white and blue, 
^^^len borne by the red, white and bine. 
When borne by the red, white and bine, 
Thy banners make tyranny tremble, 
When borne by the red, white and bine. 

When war wing'd its w^ide desolation, 
And threaten'd the land to deform. 

The ark then of freedom's foundation, 
Columbia, rode safe thro' the storm : 

With garlands of vict'ry around her. 

When so proudly she bore her brave crew, 

With h<^r flag proudly floating before her. 
The boast of the red, white and blue. 
The boast of the red, white and blue. 
The boast of the red, w^hite and blue. 
With her flag proudly floating before her,* 
The boast of the red, white and blue. 

The star-spangled banner bring hither, 
O'er Columbia's true sons let it wave ; 

May the wreaths they have won never wither, 
Xor its stars cease to shine on the brave. 

^Eay the service united ne'er sever, 
But hold to their colors so true ; 

The army and navy forever. 

Three cheers for the rec], white and blue, 
Three cheers for the red, white and blue, 
Three>-cheers for the red, white and blue, 
The army and navy forever, 
Three cheers for the red, white and blue. 

"Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," by D. T. Shaw, is set to the 
music of "Red, White and Blue," which dates from the Crimeau 
\\ ar, where it was played alilie by the English and their French 
Allies. 



iF^f 



iF^I 




DE SUTO, EARLY GUVEKNUU OF GULF COAST TERRITORY. 
Alabama was first known to Europeans in 1541, The expedition of 
De Soto had to fight its way through the Indian tribes who peopled this 
section at that period. While these tribes were more numerous, they 
were less savage than the Northern Aborigines. 

16 




ALABAMA. 

DOWN SOUTH. 

TIS summer in the quiet land of bloom, 
'Neath skies that winter never knew ; 
In forests deep the dusky cypress plume 
Nods where the wildvine tendrils clew 
Among- the humbler growth, beneath the shade 

Of centuried and hoary oaks, 
And where the rainbow-tinted sunbeams fade. 

Under the long- and trailing- cloaks 
Of mosses, bannered to the lofty boughs, 

That weave a close and leafy screen 
For nooks where fly-beg'oaded cattle browse, 
In covers cool, of grateful green. 

Before the facade of the deep, dark wood, 

The fallow fields and pastures lie, 
And ripening- harvests, teeming-, rich and gopd, 

Give pleasing- promise to the eye. 
Among- the china and the orange trees. 

And flowers of myriad dye, 
And jasmine vines that in each baln\y breeze 

Their g-a^^ and golden showers fly. 
There stands, witli open doors, a planter's home, 

And stillness reigns about its halls. 
Except the sound of bees around the comb. 

Or ring- dove's low and distant calls. 

The sunflower droops in comely grace 

Before the day-king's fervid rays — 
A Clytie fair, who bends her modest face 

Beneath Apollo's ardent gaze. 
A shimmering haze is in the air. 

The mocking bird his riot stills, 
The river glints beneath the sun's fierce glare. 

And mists hang o'er the far-off hills. 
The pigeons croon beneath the eaving-frieze, 

A kitten sleeps in " mammy's " lap. 
And in a hammock, swung betwixt two trees, 

" Old Marster " takes his noontide nap. 

17 




" MY JUNO FROM JUNEAU." 

The area of Alaska about equals all of the States of the U. S., east of 
the Mississippi River, including the Gulf .States. Warm furs are need- 
ed, as winter weather is very severe iu parts, where it is said the 
ground freezes much deeper in winter than it thaws in summer, so that 
water does not drain ott" through the lower strata. The (■uiate varies 
considerably throughout its vast extent. 

18 




ALASKA. 



MY JUNO FROM JUNEA.U. 

THEEE is a g-irl in the frozen land, 
The land of the midnight sun. 
She went there with a singing- band, 

And when her work is done 
She's coming back to sing with me. 

I want you all to know ; 
For I lore her, and she's — Oh gee* 
My Juno girl from Juneau, 

My Juno from Juneau, 
I know and j^ou know, 

She's the sweetest thing that ever did sing 
In the land where the blizzards do blow. 
In the land where the blizzards do blow 
And the people dress like Crusoe, 

In furs and skins, with wooden pins. 
And swear as hard as Pluto. 



That girl is the biggest lump of gold 

That comes from Alaska land ; 
And she is warm in spite of the cold 

That sweeps that frozen strand. 
No other girl on the gay old earth, 

From Mexico to snow, 
Can stack by her a penny's worth. 

My Juno girl from Juneau. 



19 




ZUNI INDIAN VILLAGE. 
The early settlers and town-building Indians are noted for their pe- 
culiarly built dwellings. Their history dates back ito 1540, when they 
were subdued by Coronado, and they have been recognized as peace 
abiding citizens for nearly a century past. Their houses are communal, 
generally but one structure for the whole village. 

20 




ARIZONA. 

A PUNCHEK'S POINTS. 

A SOLDIER died in Yuma— 
Leastways that's how its told — 
And went away to where they say, 
The climate's sorter cold, 
Compared to that of Yuma, 

So he dumb np to the rim 
And piped to have his blankets 
Sent immediate, to him. 

Of course the story aint plumb true, 

But sometimes gets a laugh, 
And its quoted under what is know^n. 

By English folks, as '' chawf .'' 
Course, it gets some warm in Yuma, 

And about The Needles, too, 
But Arizona has fine points, 

I say, old scout, to you. 

I've rid the range from Flagstaff 

Clar to Tucson, sou'east way. 
And back and forth, and criss-cross, 

On the herd or prospect lay. 
And sure thar's more fine weather, 

For more months in the year. 
Than anywhere beneath the sun. 

In this Arizona sphere. 

With gems, and gold, and silver, 

Arizona's in the scene, 
And when it comes to copper, 

She's straight flush from the queen; 
Her oranges, and figs, and dates, 

Would sure attract you some. 
And, hoof to horn, I'm telling you. 

That young State's in it, PLLTMB. 



21 




ARKANSAS. 

"THE TOOTHPICK STATE." 

BECAUSE of a graceful implement, 
That wa« called the bowie knife, 
Affected then by many men, 
In ways of social life, 
And sometimes called a " toothpick," 

Often used in a debate, 
Arkansas got the nickname 
Of " The Toothpick State." 

There were French and Spanish governments, 

Then the grant to one John Law ; 
Once more to Spain and back to France, 

Thus poor old Arkansaw 
Was always in a muddle, 

Till that noted deal was made 
'Twixt Jefferson and Bonaparte, 

The " toothpick " in the trade. 

On both sides in the Civil War, 

She Jkept her quota full ; 
In Eeconstruction's horrid feast, 

She supped of horrors, full, 
But now the " pinto " days are gone. 

And millions come, forsooth, 
To drink with her the waters from 

De Soto's Fount of Youth. 



23 




FORT POINT AND "GOLDEN GATE ^' 

one-half' mne"w?dl''n'"eS^^^ 1? 18^9, is one and 

Of the finest harbors in thi world '^^*'' Francisco Bay, which is one 
24 




CALIFORNIA. 

LAND OF THE GOLDEN GATE. 

FROM where the wondrous banners fly 
At Shasta's peak, of driven snow, 
To where the southland breezes sigh 
Along the sands of Mexico ; 
From where the white Sierras rise, 

To where the westering sun rides on, 
From out America's fair skies, 
Outlines thy domain's horizon — 

My golden California. 

The old time padres and the grape ; 

The 'dobe missions — crumbling now ; 
The vine and bloom that deck and drape 

Thy lofty and historic brow ; 
Thy forest monarchs, lifting high 

Their coned and fronded, hoary heads ; 
Thy loamy lands and tender sky, 

Bind me to thee in memory's threads — 
My dreamy California. 

The senoritas of that day, 

Gone with the clucking castinet ; 
The caballeros, vain and gay ; 

The donna's watchful eyes of jet ; 
The twanging of the strummed guitar ; 

The love-songs that the lovers sang. 
Heard in the languid night, afar — 

Thus have thy memory's bells oft rang— 
My dear old California. 

Now teeming with thy citric yield. 

And grape, and fig, and apricot; 
The fruits of orchard and of field. 

Prosperity has been thy lot. 
Thy commerce and thy golden sand 'y 

Thy people, generous and true ; 
Thy cities jfair, that glow^ing stand. 

Turn eyes from all the world to you — 

My strong, young California. 

25 




THE MOUNT OF THE HOLY CROSS. 

This peak of the National range of the Rocky Mountains, in Colora- 
do, is 13,W)0 feet high, from which Thomas Moran made his famous 
painting : 

"I will lift mine eyes unto the hills, from which cometh my help." 

26 




COLORADO. 

MOUNT OF THE HOLY CROSS. 

WHERE Nature's God hath roughest wrought ; 
Where spring- the purest fountains ; 
Where, long ago, the Titans fought, 
And hurled, for missiles, mountains ; 
Where everlasting snows abide, 
And tempest clouds are driven 
Along the solid, granite, side 

Of yawning chasms, riven 
Deep, in the Rockies' grandest pride 
That lifts its head to heaven ; 



Amid the wilds, where awful rise 

The giant peaks, that fathom 
Night's starry depths and day's blue skies, 

And brood above the chasm. 
One monarch 'mongst the mighty hills 

Rears high his summit hoary. 
Like some grim king, whose legend fills 

A page of olden story, 
And heart o'er awes and soul enthrills 

Before his regal glory. 



The holy cross of Christian faith. 

Above the royal velvet. 
In beauty shines, an emblem wraith, 

High on his beetling helmet ; 
Its white arms stretching through the sheen 

Of silvery mist, are gleaming, 
A talisman, the world to screen ; 

Hope's symbol in its seeming; 
A wonder grand, a joy serene, 

Upon the ages beaming, 



27 




PRISCILLA— REPRESENTING PURirAN STYLE. 

A picturesque New England scene of earlv days. While Connecticut 
was nicknamed " The Nutmeg State," it was also called " The l^and of 
Steady Habits." About 1638 a trading house was built in the Connecti- 
cut River region by the Plymouth Colony, followed afterwards by the 
Windsor Colony. 

28 




CONNECTICUT. 

THE PURITAN. 

STRICTEST of all the puritans, who dares 
To ryhnie concerning- thee, Connecticut? 
Religion was thy test when first began 
Thy start and strong advance in that which makes, 
For government, the standard and the base 
Of citizen ; the form, the substance, all 
That guides the best way for a people's weal. 

But firm as that old Charter Oak, wherein 
You hid your rights till they had stronger grown, 
You stood, loyal, stahvart and puissant, 
When war for Independence came, and sent 
Your doughty men, among the first, to help 
The work of Washington ; and of the names 
That shine upon the page of history. 
Marking those days of valiant hardihood, 
Stands Ethan Allen, linked in bright glory 
With Ticonderoga, and the mandate 
From " God and the Continental Congress." 

When mad and darksome came the awful day, 
Fraught with disunion's threat'ning blight and woe, 
Despite that not a man of arms within 
Thy boundaries was then equipped for w^ar. 
Within the space 'twixt new* taoon and its full. 
Five times thy quota of the nation's call 
Marched forth, a steel-crowned column, grim arrayed, 
To fig-ht, with might, for what you deemed the right, 



And this is biit a phase of thy career ; 
A hint at what thou art, Connecticut. 

29 




ONE OF THE BLUE HEN'S CHICKENS. 
Many years ago, whenCapt. Caldwell, of the 1st Delaware Regiment, 
said that no fighting cock could be true game unless its mother was a 
blu« hen, Delaware became known as the "Blue Hen State." 

30 



^ 





DELAWARE. 



THE BLUE HEN'S CHICKENS. 

NEXT to bonny "Little Rhody," the baby of the flock, 
Your sisters turn toward you with open arms and heart. 
And from the days of Hudson down to this tick of the clock, 
You have always, fair and faithfully, performed your part. 

When the war for independence demanded help from you, 

From your little territory and sparsely peopled land, 
You came with a contingent of soldiers brave and true. 

And with patriotic fervor lent the cause a helping hand- 
Though sorely torn, divided, among your kith and kin, 

When came the war for union — double sorrow to your soul — 
You stood by grand " Old Glory," in the fratricidal din, 

And gave your blood and treasure to the crimson tide and toll. 

Thej^ are game — " The Blue Hen's Chickens," wherever they may 
go; 

They are square and fair, dependalDle, on land or on the sea; 
In friendship they are glorious, a terror as a foe ; 

An honor to this nation of sovereign people, free. 



31 




DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

DAUGHTEES OF AMERICA. 

RIXG out, ye bells, your sweetest chimes! 
Sing-, all ye poets, dulcet rhymes ! 
Shout loud, ye crowds, in strongest praise ! 
Shine out, fair sun, in softest rays ! 

And dance, je rippling- waters ! 
For Freedom's sons will sing a song. 
That in a chorus, high and strong, 
Shall sounding ring from sea to sea, 
Whose grandest harmony shall be 
America's true daughters. 

Oh! they are loyal, brave and true, 
And soft the red, and white, and blue. 
That in the nation's colors rise, 
Blend in their cheeks, and lips, and eyes. 

And glow upon their banners. 
From ocean shore to mountain crest ; 
From north, and south, and east, and west; 
From all the bright and beauteous land, 
They come, a glory-giving band, 

And singing loud hosannas. 



With cheering words from such a mouth, 
As thine, oh daughter of the south! 
And love from such a loyal breast. 
As thine, oh daughter of the west! 

The sons can never falter; 
And while in north and east Shall stand 
The loyal, helping, sister band. 
Sweet Freedom's day shall know no night, 
But ever shall the flame glow bright 
Upon the country's altar. 



33 




FLORIDA. 

'TWIXT GULF AND SEA. 

FANNED by. -the breezes of two seas, 
Fair land named for the flowers, 
Thy shade of vine and tropic trees, 

Are ever Love's sweet bow^erg. 
Unto the sisterhood of states 

You bring- the fruits of story, 
In orange, lemon and the dates 
Of Sheba's ancient glory. 

You bring- with grape and nectarine, 

Pineapple and banana, 
The clime where dwelt the Nazarene 

And Mexic's soft manana. 
Thy towering- pines and royal palms 

And bannered oaks are laden 
With songs that silver-tone the psalms 

Sung by a Spanish maiden. 

Thine are the stars and summer breeze, 

The tinting of romances. 
And from thy islands of the seas 

Come poesy's fair fancies; 
Toward thee fly the northern birds. 

When winter's white steed prances, 
Then love her mantle loosely girds 

And with thee lithely dances. 



35 




BANKS WINTER, AUTHOR OF "WHITE WINGS." 
" Banks Winter, you are summer all the time." 



36 




GEORGIA. 



BANKS WINTER. 

BANKS Winter, you are summer all the time, 
And you come from the sunnj-, southern clime 
Of good old Georgia, 
Where King Cotton holds high sWay, 
And Frank Stanton sings a lay, 
Every single, blessed day, 
Of good, old Georgia. 



Banks Winter, you are greatest when you sing, 
And your song has a touch of breezy spring. 
In dear, old Georgia. 
'Tis a happy, jolly throng 
Of friends you've helped along, 
With your kindness and your song. 
In and out of Georgia. 



Banks Winter, here's a flagon to your health. 
May you have that, and all you want of wealth- 
In and out of Georgia ; 
May you never have a fall, 
From the joy, and love, and oil. 
That make the rose-covered wall 
Around old Georgia. 



3< 




IDAHO. 



THE rU IX CESS. 



WITHIN thy Ijouudaries, Idaho, 
A wondrous empire lies, 
From thy wide and fertile valleys 

To the azure of thy skies ; 
From thy snow-crowned mountain summits 

To thy canoned river walls, 
'Mid a glorious scenic grandeur, 
That bewilders and enthralls. 

Thy waters, trending eastward, 

* Reach the gulf of Mexico, 
x\nd southward, 'long the Wasatch range, 

To the Colorado flow, 
And northward, 'mong the Coeur d'Alene, 

Through beauteous Pend Oreille, 
They reach the broad Columbia, 

E'en from the Bridal Veil. 



Thou art a princess, Idaho, 

Among thy sister band, 
And thy robe is rich in jewels 

From Nature's lavish hand ; 
Majestic 'mid tlw mountain crags. 

Generous, strong and bold, 
Thou givest from thy valleys, grain, 
And from thy hills, pure gold. 

39 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
Our Civil War President was an Illinois rail-splitter when a yonng 
man. fie signed the Proclamation of Emancipation in IHtio, and' made 
his memorable address at Gettysburg later in the same year. The 
memory of Lincoln will never die. 

40 




ILLINOIS. 

SOXS OF ILLINOIS. 

HAIL and welcome, gallant soldiers, 
}»Ieii of nei've and brawn ! 
Never since the nation's fathers 
Ushered freedom's dawn, 
Came a band of sun-bronzed heroes, 

Bringing more of j^y 
Than here tints your buoj'^ant banners, 
Sons of Illinois. 

Shout, ye people; roar the cannon; 

Sound the bugles, long; 
Chant, ye singers, loud hosannas, 

Deep, and full, and strong ; 
Eing the bells and shower flowers, 

Till each noble boy 
Feels the love we give his legion ; 
Sons of Illinois. 

You have borne your banners Ijravely , 

Kept your honor bright 
For your country standing ready. 

As a w^all of might ; 
Waiting, faithful, true and willing . 

]\ren Avithout alio}' ; 
Now your people greet you, cheering , 
Sons of Illinois. 

Welcome, soldiers, back to home-land. 

Whence you bravely' went, 
Daring toil, defying danger , 

Heroes, freedom-sent : 
Now the kinsman, friend and stranger, 

Bring you hope and joy. 
And with love and praises meet you, 
Sons of Illinois. 

41 




JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 
Familiarly known as the "Hoosler Poet." Noted for his dialect and 
child verse, he gained a well-deserved position in literature. His mem- 
ory and his poems will always live. 



42 




INDIANA. 

A SOXG FOR IXDIANA. 

LET us sing" a ring-ing" song", 
For Indiana, Indiana. 
Till it echoes loud and long-. 
For Indiana, Indiana. 
Full of home-love, let it be, 
Let its accents, full and free, 
Sound from mountains to the sea, 
For Indiana. 

Chorus : Oh ! sing- for Indiana, 

A swelling-, hig-h hosanna ; 
'Tis a gem upon the banner 
Of the free — Indiana. 

'IMong' thy rolling* hills and vales, 

Dear Indiana, Indiana. 
'Long- thy streams and flowered dales, 

Dear Indiana, Indiana. 
Where thy balmy breezes play 
Through thy woods and fields alwaN^ 
We love you every day, 

Dear Indiana. 

In times of war and x:)eace. 

Brave Indiana, Indiana. 
You've been true without surcease, 

Brave Indiana, Indiana. 
In the east and in the west, 
']\Iongst the truest and the best, 
You have stood high honor's test. 

Brave Indiana. 

May you live ten thousand years. 

Old Indiana, Indiana. 
Full of joy, and few thy tears, 

Old Indiana, Indiana. 
And may you ever stand, 
Honor bright amid the band 
Of thy sisterhood so grand. 

Old Indiana. 

43 




LUCILLE, HAZEL AND A WHEEL. 

There is nothing drowsy about Iowa. The name is said to mean, in 
the language of the Indians, "The Beautiful I^and. ' The motto of the 
"flawkeye .State "is: "Our Liberties We Prize, and Our Rights We 
Will Maintain. " 

41 




IOWA. 



THE HAWKEYE STATE. 

IX the tongue of the "Winnebagoes, 
lowans are the " sleepy ones," 
Which shows how oft a would-be meaning 

Quite to the plain contraiy runs. 
The folks that live in Iowa 

Are most distinctly wide awake, 
And to extremes — ^their climate like— 

They sometimes go till '" wet '' folks quake. 

Iowa had her ups and downs — 

Yet not a mountain in the land — 
But she's plumb level, on the square, 

And altogether fair and grand. 
She sent' a mighty host of men 

To thwart disunion's threat and fume, 
Till peace, triumphant, swept along. 

And downed the war god's sable plume. 

Of all the g'lorious sisterhood. 

There's not a wiser in the band ; 
She rules her household cheerily, 

And when help's needed, lends a hand. 
With her prosperity abides, 

And all her comely sisters give 
Love's kindest greeting in their song : 

"Bear Towa, long live! long live!" 



45 




WALT MASOX, THE "POETRY IN PROSE" AUTHOR. 

Also famous as '-The One Wealthy Poet." His home is iu Emporia. 
Kansas has long been known as the " .Sunflower State." 



46 




KANSAS. 

THE SUNFLOWER STATE. 

KANSAS is where Walt ^Slasoii lives and 
William Allen White abides, and it is 
said that Mason gives a lot of kids long- 
auto rides, and Mason \\Tites a world 
of ryhmes, run in like prose, the way 
this is, and thus he earns a pile of 
dimes, and makes the thing- a paying biz. 



'Tis good to see a poet win, for mostly 
they are said to fail, and they are blamed 
till it's a sin, about their emptj^ dinner 
pail. And also, William Allen White has 
done a lot for Kansas kind, yet he don't 
do a thing but write the things that come 
into his mind. 



But Kansas is a commonwealth, that in the 
memory of man was only sage brush, plains 
and health, and, later, folks that also 
ran. The rain belt w^ent out from the east 
and irrigation came from w^est, until the 
whole thing- is a feast and Kansas stands 
among' the best. 



47 




DANIEL BOONE. 
This famous frontiersman, with five companions, entered Kentucky 
in 1769, was captured by the Indians, afterwards escaped, and he and 
MS brother lived a whole winter in a cabin. In 1775 he built a fort where 
Boonesboro, Ky., is now located. There are about thirty towns in the 
United States which took their names from this great American Pioneer, 

48 




KENTUCKY. 

"THE DARK AND BLOODY GEOUXD." 

FROM where Big- Sandy tumbles down 
Its sources in the mountains 
Of West Virginia, and is fed 
By crystal brooks and fountains, 
Until it joins the graceful sweep 

Of broad Ohio's waters, 
That wash the strong- and shapely feet 

Of three beloved daughters 
Of fair Columbia, and join 

The great and murk^" river, 
That sweeps old Tennessee's I'ieh banks, 
Where water lilies quiver, 
I love you, dear Kentucky. 

I love your w^oods and verdant hills, 

And every stream and farm-land, 
For to your sons, dear mother state. 

Your every rood's a charm-land ; 
No fairer women in the world 

Nor braver men are living'. 
To bless the places whence they go, 

Than those that you are giving ; 
And for your strong and loving ways, 

Your happy homes and graces, 
Your sons are zealous that your name 

Shall hold the highest places. 
And love you, dear Kentucky. 

Oh, may you live ten thousand years. 

In all your st-rength and beauty. 
And may your sons cling" close to you 

In loyal love and duty; 
And may your fields be ever fair. 

And all your sorrow^s lighest, 
While all j^our joys shall grow apace,- 

The sweetest and the brightest ; 
May Peace and Plenty live wath you 

Through all the coming ages. 
And ever pure your history be 

In all its shining pages, 
As our love, Kentucky. 
49 




TRANSFER OF THE LOUISIANA TERRITORY, AT NEW ORLEANS. 
Originally a vast extent of land purchiased from France in 1808. 
Louisiana now comprises 48,720 square miles. It tias the largest number 
of navigable rivers of any State in the Union, and the levees are its 
noted physical characteristic. Cotton, sugar, rice and corn are the 
staple crops of the " Pelican State," and there is lumber in abundance. 

60 




w 



LOUISIANA. 

A CAJAX IDYL. 
'YP'O' you ask me do, 'bout Lucie, gel? 



You know some thing- 'bout lieem and me? 
Eef I think dat, by gar, I bus yo' face, 
Eef not, pardonnez, Moos-soo, oui. 

Oh Gee! — How say you dat? — I love dees gel, 

An' much I think, he love me some, 
Till wan fine day he 'lope, 'way in de night, 

Wid — w'at you call? — wan ^lajor Drum. 

Y"ez, yez ! — you right — drum major — vera tall, 
An' pitch wan pole 'way up and down, 

'Long- fron' de ban' till sho you think he own 
De street, an' maybe, all de town ! 

Dees Major Drum — oui — yaz — I unnerstan' — 
Drum major — Avell some tam he come. 

Some mo' 'long- fron' dat minstrel ban' hereliout, 
Den I bus heem — w'at you call — plumb. 

De ban' — dem udder men dat play on horn — 
Dey'U heem pick up an' wonder some— 

'Cause lie is loss, beeg- hat an' all — an' — guess, 
Were he is gone, dat Major Drum? 

My lobe ees g-one — twice gone — g-one out my heart, 

An' gone \vid dat bum Major Drum ; 
An' nex' I know, 'way down in Or-lee-ans, 
Dat gel be sellin' some kine gum. 

An' maybe den, wan market day, some tam, 

I gone wid melon — maybe shoat — 
An' see dat gel, an' feel so mad an' wile, 

I turn dat — what you call? — de g-bat. 

Eef so dat ees, I buy de gaim, all out. 

An' Lucie, he come home wid me, 
Den s'all I willin' be de g-oat — -or mule — 

Af Lucie say it— yaz sir — ee ! 

51 




••' CAMPING IN MAINE." 

The Pine Tree State" is said to liav e derived her name from Henrietta 
Marie. Camping, boating and fishing, amidst beautifuLnaturai scenery, 
are attractions for healthful recreation. 

no 




MAINE. 

AWAY DOWN IN MAINE.' 

FEOM St. John river south to where 
The Piscataqua empties in 
And helps to swell Atlantic's tide. 

Folks that go summering have been ; 
And when they come careering back, 

And looking proud, and tanned, and vain, 
One wishes he had gone there too ; 
Away down in Maine. 

Old Orchard, Casco Bay and Orr's, 

And every cool, inviting nook, 
Along the shores and 'mong the lakes— 

Also Anasagunticook — 
Just simply teem with fish and game. 

And one may dodge the dog days' strain 
And hunt, and row, and have a time. 
Away down in Maine. 

In that old State, the first that's named 

Among the Union sisterhood, 
The folks are broad, and frank, and free ; 

The whole world there seems fresh and good. 
But while a stranger in that land, 

If you'd return clear-minded, sane. 
Don't try to bag the local names. 
Away dow^n in Maine. 



53 






■§5 








t-C— ( 




m c3 




>-M 




r2 a 




"O QJ 




^fl 




0^ 2 




A'^ 








ai^ 




kC^ 




IK 0) 




t--^ 


d 


qj+-. 


^ 


ia 


<i 


> 


J 


-O'- 


tH 


^3 


tf 






p:5 


=32 


O 


2^ 




S3? 
>- 


CQ 


^ 


»« 


4«> 


** ^ 


!» 5P 


H 


(U (U 


^ 


^« 


13 




o 


c«2 


■tJ i» (J) 


H 


fe E f* 

t^ a c3 


<1 


" <^o 


23 


oTof 




*- , ti 


^ 


cs >iaj 








Oj tyj O 

-J bj O 




TJ 02 5P 




^ C« « 




O-a^ 




3 ^Jh 




M 




aj 4) rj 




2 S 




'C S S 




do 




->» 




MARYLAND. 

"MARYLAND, MY MARYLAND!" 

NO despot's heel is on thy shore, 
ISIaryland, my Maryland 1 
No torch is at thy temple door, 
ISIaryland, my Maryland ! 
There is no temple on th}^ soil, 
And never was ; this but the moil 
Of poet's brain, that had to boil, 
ISIarjland, my Maryland ! 

Thy exiled sons have all come home, 

jSIaryland, my ]\Iaryland I 
Or somewhere else they choose to roam, 

Maryland, my ISIarjdand ! 
'Twonld be for woe and not for weal 
To gird thy beauteous limbs with steel, 
And if you did you couldn't kneel, 
Maryland, my Maryland ! 



The fact is you are feeling- prime, 

^Maryland, my Maryland ! 
And having just as fine a time, 
Maryland, my ISfaryland ! 
As any sister in the band, 
And you're a credit to the land — 
'Tis time that wail of woe was canned, 
Maryland, my Maryland ! 

55 




t_ 


■c 


c 





00 




<b 


4^ 




05 


+j 




+j 


M 


CO 


^ 


^ 


a> 



U2 ■■■ 






(H-Ci 




cS a> 




QD — ( 




+J 




^^^ 

^a 


r/i 


. 0) 


cr 


a; 


< 




S 




'^' 


-^d 


^ 


«IH O 


H 


0^ 





^1 


h-H 


>^< 


■t-j - 


K 


^ 




^ iC 


l-H 








Fh 


.—1 


«< 




, 


01 'C 


^ 


? ft 


-^ 


^< 


'-^ 


flfl 


a 


WJ"^ 


w 


.■SrC 


*^ 


»^ i; 


H=i 


0; 




> o 


^ 


si 


^ 




'>. 


c ^ 


O 


c: o 


:j 


CO ti«^ 




H 
X 




^ 


2:^1 




?«g 




- -O J-c 




s|^ 




■^2 83 




,ai ® 




-s^-^ 




4-> a»*j 




QJ-C o 




= g- 




■g'S* 




l|5 




M CO 




CS ►> 41 CD 








<i^'H 




^ S 




72 c3 




MASSACHUSETTS. 



THE OLD BAY STATE. 



AEECORD rich is truly thine 
And glorious is thy name ; 
Upon thy fair escutcheon shine 

Thy heroes and their fame. 
'ISvas first unto thy rugged shores 

Came Freedom's soul elate ; 
Thy portals have been Freedom's doors; 
Blest be the " Old Bav State !" 



Thou mother of the virgin States, 

Gave first thy sons to bleed 
Within the 5^oung republic's gates, 

And from this ruddy seed 
Arose the Union's spreading tree 

That shelters all the land, 
From broad Atlantic's mighty sea 

To far Pacific's strand. 



Thou first against Oppression hurled 

The freeman's gage of fight, 
And gave to all the vassal world 

The stamp and seal of Right ; 
'Twas you that cradled Liberty, 

And brave men from afar 
Came bringing cheer and help to thee, 

Led by the western star. 



57 




BEN KING, THE MICHIGAN BARD. 

Noted for his poems in uesro dialect, and Southland Melodies. He 
"vas one of America's greatest humorous poets, and was called the 
^"homas Hood of Michigan. 

58 




MICHIGAN. 

BEN KING. 

A QUIET maa, of genial face, 
Of cordial mien and gentle grace, 
To need and sorrow wed; 
For lack of g-old his worth untold, 
And jealous Fame spoke not his name — 
Was dumb till he was dead. 

He lived in contemplation high, 
Of all the glories of the sk.y, 

And sweetest lessons took 
From earth and air, the bright and fair 
Of every place, and age and race, 

And read from Nature's book. 

And now he sits upon a throne, 
A monarch in a realm his own, 

And holds the universe 
Within his grasp, with tender clasp, 
A regal king- with soul to sing. 

Though stri];)t of script and purse. 



Now list the music of his shell. 
And hear his raptured accents tell 

Of pure and noble things ; 
With minstrel's art and poet's heart. 
He fills the bowl that soothes the soul, 

And plays upon its strings. 

'59 







? ■« 




;; a 




IS 




4-J ^ 




eS 35 




?* ' — ' 









-co^ 




Oi 03 




•M Oi 




as 




•:3 a 




1 -i-i 




b"^ 




Is 




- 0) 




a 




be ^ 




a f- 




.r-. <U 




a > 




08 — 




S.'i 








«ft 




-d-S- 




U Of} 




O cc 


< 


^m 


H 


m 


O 


a5 


m 


CS'^ 


w 


-c 2 




a-^ 


I— 1 


«M 


S 


ao 




«H 


«i1 


cc 0) 


a 


"^^ 


<i 


a^ 

=« 03 


a 


:^ 


m-^ 


^ 


0) 


1— 1 


csx: 


S 




&H 




o 


01 UP 




xj s 


m 


^'^w 


)-3 


O^bD 


J 


0: a 


,<1 






5^2 




-d bc^ 




® a So 




8^2 




03 be =5 




aao* 




til 






a' S 




K -^ « 




58- -IT 










a> ,« a: 




Mluu 
ehahi 
e mid 

60 






2-^ 




a+^ 








g.2 




MINNESOTA. 

THE IRON STATE. 

TENTH in area of the sovereign States, 
The iron from thy northern fields 
Ts more than that from any region of the earth ; 

A vast resource among- the nation's yields. 
No other land, within the ken of mortal man. 

Sends to the hungry earth the bread 
That from thy ever teeming- harvests comes, 
The triljute of thy soil and toil, far-spread, 
Minnesota. 

Thy mighty rivers and thy thousand lakes, 

To north and south their waters send. 
Blending- with Hudson Bay and j\rexiG Gulf, 

Opening- thy empire's distal trend. 
Cities and forests, farms and lavish mines ; 

Strong- enterprise of steel-nerved men ; 
Vigor and. faith, and loyalty, withal, 

Have lifted thee, and crowned thee then. 
Minnesota. 



61 




MISSISSIPPI. 

1^^ MISSISSIPPI WOODS. 

SO]\rE blue spots dashed with springtime haze 
Seen throug-h mag-nolia trees and hays ; 
The emerald green of tall pine tops, 
A laggard breeze, to bend them, stops ; 
A crimson splash of maple bloom, 
A scent of " sweet shrub's " soft perfnme, 

The snow of dog-wood, hiding- low, 

The lazy call of a loafing' crow ; 

The mock-bird's langh, that sneejing- rings 
Because an humbler song-ster sings ; 

Of sun and shade a perfect day, 

In southern March like northern May. 

We rembled there — sweet Belle and I — 

And heard the forest laugh and cry. 
In maiden fancy, bright and free. 
She thought the deep old woods a sea, 

The rich-robed birds, with whirr and swish, 

In dashing- by were flashing- fish. 

Pine cones were conch shells on the floor, 

And soughing- winds the ocean's roar. 
The great white clouds above the tips 
Of waving trees, were full-sailed ships, 

With romance laden, for the land 

Where Love stands shivering- on the strand. 

But here within the forest deep. 

Where angels through the blue spots peep, 
We wandered far, sweet Belle and I, 
And heard the forest laugh and crj^; 

To crown her sire's birthday fete, 

We gathered bloom and tarried late. 



63 




PIERHE LACLEDE (LIUULST), FlilST SETTLER OF ST. LOUIS. 
Pierre Laclede, a French explorer, on Feljruary 15, 1764, directed the 
first settlement of Saint Louis, which he named after Louis XV of 
France. Missouri is a great agricultural St^te, and millions of barrels 
of flour are milled every year. 

64 




MISSOURI. 



" SHOW ME !" 

YOU had asked the world to " show j^oii," 
And a few short years ago 
All the nations came to see yon, 

And they brought along that show. 
They brought lots of fun and fashion, 

And a sight of curious things, 

Prom elephants that flew about 

To birds that had no whigs. 

Tn that gathering- of the nations 

Was a real, jolly jam, 
And in the crowd was no one less 

Than glorious Uncle Sam, 
Who had beat Napoleon Bonaparte 

Upon a little trade, 
A steppin' 'round and braggin' on 

The dicker he had made. 



And still you wish to have us 

Come and "show you," all t^lie while. 
And that's wise of you, Missouri, 

For the world is full of guile. 
But this is just to say, once more. 

That you're a grand old State, 
From Arkansaw to Iowa, 

Alive and up-to-date. 

65 




ASSINABOINE INDIAN MOTHER AND CHILDREN, MONTANA. 

The Assinaboine Indians made repeated forays into Montana, lay- 
ing waste the country and murdering such settlers as ventured to oppose 
them. January 8th, 1877, a decisive victory was won over the Indians, at 
Wolf Mountains, Montana, and this led to the close of the war in the 
Spring of 1877. 

66 




MONTANA. 



A ^MOUNTAIN VALLEY. 



I 



AM not color-blind, and yet the stream is blue — or green — 
I know not which, as royally it marches down between 
The mountain lords, a stately queen. 



X^\) yon the river enters, where you see that wedge of blue ; 
On either side a grassy field spreads from the banks and tliru- 
Down yon— it cuts the range in two. 

The sun strides rapidly across, from east to western pile, 
Then gaily gilds the orient line, as with a wicked smile, 
Night's dusky siren to begiiile. 



6^ 




« rj M 

«* ^ fl 

h' O as 

a> O flj 



CO tat* 

5od 
^fl o 

^ 5 » 
^ooo 

2 ^ o 5 

02 s — O 

■§^2 2 

a» g fl 
43 fl o 
72 03 s 




NEBRASKA. 

GEE AT IS AK-SAK-BEN. 

GREAT, growing, glorious commonwealth 
Of cattle, sheep and mnles, 
Of corn, alfalfa, horses, wheat, 

Of colleges and schools, 
Of statesmen, editors and all 
That make a mighty State, 
You are known from east to furthest west 
As high among' the great. 

You reach from dark Missouri's tide 

To where Wj^oming fills 
Her place amid the sisterhood, 

On mountains, plains and hills. 
And from Dakota's teeming fields 

To Kansas — kith and kin — 
That wept and bled before the time 
Columbia took you in. 

The world, admiring, watches you, 
As greater yet you grow. 
In all the things you crow about" — 
You have the right to crow. 
Here's to you, game Nebraska State, 
Your women, children, men, 
And may yon never know reverse, 
Beyond your " Ak-Sar-Ben." 



61 




WILLIAM LIGHTPOOT VISSCHER, THE AUTHOR. 

The Cowboy. 

He rose from a feast and came out of the east 

With life in his pulsing veins, 

And scorning a track, on his broncho's back, 

He flung to his beast the reins. 



70 




NEVAl>xV. 

A GOOD OLD SCOUT. 

WELL you remember, friend of mine, 
When on Xevada's plains 
We met and friendship first began 
To forge the golden chains 
That ever since have linked us two 
And braced us where w^e won, 
In hardship, trial, poverty, 
In danger, fight or fun. 

And now I'm glad to see you here, 

So gray, and strong, and tall, 
Beneath your big- sombrero, 

With buckskin coat and all, 
And we'll drink, in sparkling AAater, 

And the health that in it lies, 
A health to all the western land, 

Its rivers, hills and skies. 

And we'll pray for God's good blessing 

On all that wide domain, 
From dark Missouri's murky tide 

To Colorado's plain. 
And o'er the Rockies to the sea, 

'Long can^'ons, 'royas, streams. 
Among the peaks and far across. 

To where Hood's helmet irleams. 



n 




THE MINUTE MAN OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

immlnsf nui'nniiP^.^^f ''Granite State," derives its nickname from the 
iTrv^lfc quantities Of fine grained granite within its borders. This 
R«vni ii^«'Srl^r2''^'* ^«^ obelisks in cemeteries. The Minute Men of the 
Revolution were always prepared for service at a minute's notice. 



72 




NEW HA3IPSHIRE. 

THE WHITE MOUNTAIN STATE. 

AVAST and varied park of hills, 
ISIountains and lakes, and boldest streams, 
That down the valley's swiftly glide. 
Where sunlight through the forest gleams. 

Like silver ribbons rivers wind 

Their w^ay toward the mighty main, 

And through a land of high emprise, 

Where strength, and thrift, and plenty reign. 

Eugged and open as their land. 

New Hampshire's people hold their way 

In human helpfulness and worth, 

When skies are bright or cold and gray. 

True to the flag and the country's calls, 
The old White Mountain State has been; 

True to herself and all tlie world, 
Her neighbors and her kith and kin, 

From far colonial days till now. 

Proud has she worn the diadem 
Of Union Sisterhood and State, 

Upon her high and lo^^al brow. 



73 




MOLLY PITCHER AT THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 
New Jersey suffered much daring the Revolutionary War, in which 
Molly Pitcher (real name Hays) figured as a heroine. The State also 
rendered great assistance during the Civil War, 1861-65. Hundreds of 
summer resorts dot the ocean front. 

74 




NEW JERSEY 

MOLLY PITCHER. 

MOLLY'S husbaud was a soldier, 
The captain of. a gun, 
And faith she was a soldier's wife, 

If ever there was one. 
She stayed right where her captain was, 

In camp or on the march, 
She had not any stuck-np ways, 
Thousfh her choler had the starch. 



•In battle when the British, 

And the weather, made it hot, 
'Long the line ^^loll carried water — 

She was ]\Iolly on t>xe spot — 
And that was hovr the " j)itcher" 

Got appended to her name; 
Instead of Hays, the noin dc yncrre 

Was lifted up to fame. 

When on INIonmouth field the captain 

Was killed beside his gun, 
Molly Pitcher seized the rammer. 

And until the day was won, 
She served that old brass cannon 

With such a deadly aim, 
The Hessian cohorts fled and Moll 

Had w^on historic name. 



Vo 




*a CO 

'-i ( 



xi^ o 

o ^1^ 



% 



0), 



s s 



_, 1" 
ucC! « 

-o o ^ 

S-rH gj 

ts 

0) - 

n a> M 

■O*^ 1:3 
fl O- 

3 2 
CO '© 

<( CD t>. 
4J U 

SC 08 




NEW MEXICO. 



CHIQUITA LA BONITA. 

GREAT black eyes with look so tender 
That they seem almost to weep ; 
Hand that's taper, brown and slender, 
Shades them, peering up the steep, 
From the " dobey " by the mesa, 

Where the sun forever shines, 
'Long- the foothill, where the gazer 
. Sees amid the tangling vines. 
And the crooked manzanita, 
Su Chiquita la bonita. 

There's a little Mexic maiden, 

Golden-haired and eyes of blue, 
With the springtime flowers laden, 

Climbing down from where they grew; 
Dusky-haired and dark-eyed mother — 

Though, mayhap, the question's bold — 
Whence those eyes of some one other ; 

Whence the shining locks of gold? 
Tell me, handsome Josepheta, 
Of Chiquita, la bonita. 



Ah! I see yon cavalero, 

Riding thither, down the trail ; 
Now he lifts his broad sombrero, 

Shouts the Saxon's hearty hail, 
And the flax-haired cavalero 

Has Chiquita's eyes of blue. 

Shaded by his slouch sombrero; 

Pretty answer that is, too. 

For the handsome Josepheta, 

And Chiquita, la bonita. 



77 



iE-*-^ase?_v«^ 




BARTHULDI STATUE OF LIBERTY, NEW YORK CITY HARBOR 

New York, the " Empire State," is the most important In the Union. 
It stands at the heacl in manufacturing, commerce and population. 
Originally the State was occupied by the Iroquois Indians, with whom 
the early settlers were frequently engaged in conflicts. 

78 




NEW YOKK. 

ALONG THE PALISADES. 

OXCE there came a halcj'on time, 
Xot many j^ears ago, 
When Sue and I went gj'psying-, 
Where old Hudson's waters flow ; 
We rowed across the mighty stream, 

And climbed the Palisades, 
And rambled through the deep greenwood, 
Adown its echoing glades. 

The story that I told her there 

Is ever new, though old ; 
It has lived through all the ages. 

And it will be sung and told. 
While human hearts in bosoms throb 

And life is bright and free ; 
The tale of love, that lights the land 

And reaches 'cross the sea. 

She was a flower here below; 

She's now a star on high ; 
My rose was changed to add a gem 

'Mid those that 'lume the sky. 
And I have roamed to see the stars 

That look down from above. 
To flnd the brightest night that comes, 

That I may see my love. 

Throughout the earth the brightest days 

Are where the Hudson flows ; 
I can see my star in Heaven's field, 

That was my fair York rose, 
On summer nights, the brightest, here, 

From 'long the Palisades, 
And here I'll wait and sing to her, 

Till all my starlight fades. 



79 




"COME, SIT BESIDE ME, DAUGHTER MINE !" 
"Music hath its charms," and the beautiful sentiment expressed in 
this picture, of love and companionship between parent and child, is as 
pleasing as the charming notes brought forth from the instrument. 




NOKTH CAltOLlNA. 

CHRIST^IAS IN THE OLD TIME. 

COME love, come, and sing with me, 
Within this home beside the sea, 
And sit you, daughter, at my knee, 
To help the hapjDj' rhyme ; 
I'll sing of days ere you were born ; 
Of cotton and the gathered corn ; 
Of darkies and the dinner horn, 
And Christmas in the old time. 

We'll tune the banjo to ±he lay, 
And make the music light and gay. 
For that, my loved ones, was the way 

Of Carolina, in the prime 
And happy days of long ago. 
When Uncle Jube and Mammy Cloe 
Made jolly times like honey flow, 

For Christmas in the old time. 

The still ieide of honeybees ; 

The grateful scent of od'rous trees ; 

The balmy, perfume-laden breeze. 

Of that dear sunny clime, 
And all the happiness and glee 
Are borne on memory's wings to me, 
Of home beside Atlantic's sea. 

And Christmas in the old time. 

More love shines in Black ]\[ammy's face ; 
More joy pervades the old home place ; 
The sun streams down with softer grace; 

The distant church bell's chime 
Has sweeter music in its ring ; 
More merrily the darkies sing 
And jollier greetings meetings bring, 

At Christmas in the old time. 



81 




YOUNG SIOUX 8QUAW. 

thPi>^inSH°,V^tSi^^^.^.v?^^^? ^^ t^^ Dakota Indians, ceded portions of 
flTTii«n^?r}^liA^^r^?? outbreak of the massacres in 1862, they had only 
Sn^hnndri^ff^-iH^^lf "^^^ divided into two reservations, and about 
andcustomJST.Vil^Hf.''^"?^''^^''"^®^ Indians," and adopted the dress 
S?r?n v^n^S^s J^^'^. whites, to some extent. A treaty was made with the 
fcioux in 1868, and carried out by most of the Indians. 



82 




NORTH DAKOTA. 

THE DAIvOTAS. 

FROM one vast area of land, 
Strong' as it came from the Maker's hand, 
In mountain, valley, stream and plain, 
Bearing gold, and fruit, and grain. 
Came to the sisterhood, as mates, 
These, twain, among the sovereign States v 
North Dakota — grand you are — 
South Dakota — sister star. 

Not many short and fleeting years, 
With all their hopes, and joj^s, and fears. 
Have marched, unhalting, to the dead. 
With steady, stern 'and silent tread. 
Since over the hills and valleys here 
The red man chased the panting deer, 
And by the dark Missouri's tide 
The warrior wooed his dusky bride ; 
The war whooi^ through the forest rang; 
Among the pines the wild winds sang; 
The screams of eagles in the air 
Met echo in the gray wolf's lair ; 
The bison with his shaggy mane. 
Grazed all unharmed upon the plain ; 
The paddle of the light canoe 
Flashed where the w^ater lilies grew : 
In nature's garb the land was drest, 
From river to the mountain crest, 
And all was fresh, untouched and wild. 
The free home of the forest child. 
83 




OHIO. 

OUR CABIN. 

IT was early in November ; 
Ah, the time I well remember ! 
Tho' that was more than sixty years agoiie, 
■ When I came here with my honey, 

Blest w4th health, but not Avith money, 
And I had my Old Virginia blood and brawn. 

We'd a wagon load of '' plnnder," 

And a love that naught could sunder ; 
To one another w^e were all the earth. 

And the changes time has brought us 

Have but only sweetly taught us 
Thait fidelity's its own and truest worth. 

Oh ! 'twas lovely in this valley 

When myself and darling Sally 
Camped on the banks of the clear and babbling f^^tream. 

And the forest, deep and olden, 

Tinted scarlet, green and golden, 
Sang vespers while we dreamed a happy dream. 

Here I built my love a bowser, 

Tho' its sw^eetest. fairest flower 
Was the little wife who dwelt therein w^th me ; - 
And we wrought, with hope, together, 

In bracing autumn w^eather. 
Buoyant and happy, ardent, young and free. 



Then the forest, dark and hoary, 
Gave from 'mid its lusty glory 

-The timbers for our little cabin here, 

And the neighbors came and " raised " it, 
Sweet Sally blessed and praised it, 

And no other home has ever seemed so dear. 

85 




GERTRUDE THREE P^INGERS AND PAPOOSE, OKLAHOMA. 

Oklahoma. " Home of the Red Man," was so called bv Col. Boudlnet, 
a Cherokee. It was thrown open to settlement on April 22nd, 1889. At 
Chilocco is located one of the Indian Training Schools, where boys are 
taught variovis trades and girls are taught household duties. 
86 




OKLAHOMA. 



THE INDIAN GIFT. 

FROM far back days, when on the western plains 
Wild silence, in its awful qniet, reigns, 
To days wdien progrei^s lights the lustrous way, 
Under the sun of empire and its sway ; 
From times when in the lonesome ^\estern land 
The savage led his fierce and barbarous band, 
To times that bless a better, brighter life. 
Unknown to trial, toil and bloody strife, 
This is the theme that here is sung-? 
A song from cruel hardship wrung 

On yonder mesa, lifted fair and high 

From 'neath the blue of glorious w^estern sky. 

And on the undulating lands below, 

Where blessed brooks and rivers flow. 

The. coyote howled into the echoing night, 

Into the sun the eagle held his flight, 

The buffalo, the antlered elk and deer. 

In countless herds gTazed on the ranges here ; 

Along a land untouched and free ; 

Clear and clean as the wind-swept sea. 

Then ringing came the borderman's refi'ain, 

And with it Cody, Little, North and Payne, 

Couch and Clark, aud all the advance band 

That open flung the gates of ''No Man's Land," 

And Oklahonui's domain, deep and wide. 

Before the rushing, roaring, human tide. 

That built amid the wilderness a State, 

^lodern, enlightened, throbbing, strong and great ; 

Among the fairest sisters of the band 

Led by Columbia's queenly hand. 

"We gave the Indian this bright gem, 
Then took it back, and that's — ahem ! 

87 




m 











•Jl 






c ^ 



0) 



>-. 00 



ft 



O 00 




OREGON. 

"WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON." 

^^ X the beauty and the grandeur of the hind of Oregon. 
^^ Its wondrous cascades and its lakes, its mountains, 

plains, and streams, 

From Shasta to Columbia's tide, that leaves fair Washington, 
From Idaho to ocean sands, the sum of fortune beams. 
This gloryland where nature's mood is wild, and free, and strong, 

Where awful rise the mountain kings, where sweep the river 
queens, 
In majesty unspeakable, and where the forests' song. 

In high hosanna, rolls above its sea of evergreens. 



Over the mountain ranges and among the crags and peaks, 

Adown the streams that turn toward the vast Pacific sea, 
WTiere Nature unto Nature's God her sonorous aves spearks. 

Along the canons and the dalles, the forests and the lea. 
She repeats the flag, " Old Glory," repeats its waving bars. 
Where blaze the crimson tintings of the sunset's lustrous dves. 
And gleams the snow of the mountains that reach toward the 
stars ; 
The bravest flag that ever rose to kiss a nation's skies. 




INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
This old and historic building was the meeting place of the Second 
Continental Congress in 1775. Un July -Ith, 1776, Avhile Congress was in 
session, the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted, and on 
the morning of that day the old bell in the belfry rang out, proclaiming 
'• liberty throughout all the land." 



^^s 




pe:n^nsyi.vaxia. 

THE KEYSTONE STATE. 

IX the old colonial days, 
Pennsylvania, 
Thine were toleration's Avays, 
Pennsylvania ; 
The opprest from everjwhere 
Came to thee, seekin"' share 
In Friends and Penn's free air, 

Pennsylvania, 
For peace yon fought the hglit 
Of the just, and true, and right. 
And Avisdom bore thy light, 
Pennsylvania. 

Then, ^vhen grim Avar befell, 

Pennsylvania, 
And Liberty's loud bell, 

Pennsjdvania, 
IJang- the call to rise and save 
Fair Freedom's hope, you gave 
A host of heroes brave. 

Pennsylvania ; 
And to help thy battleblade, 
Men of fortune freely laid. 
At thy feet, their golden aid. 

Pennsylvania. 

Thine was a mighty stand, 

Pennsylvania, 
When disunion faced the land, 

Pennsylvania, 
P>iit opposing- every wrong*. 
Thou art ever true and strong". 
And thine's the patriot's song, 

Pennsylvania ; 
As the " Keystone " by the grace 
Of honor, thine's the place. 
In the arch of Union's base. 

Pennsylvania. 
91 




RHODE ISLAND. 



'* LITTLE EHODY." 

YOU'VE been fractious, "Little Hhody," 
Since the days of Plymouth Rock ; 
No control could make you toady ; 

Game as anj' fig-hting cock. 
Many times .you have seceded 

From the ways you didn't like. 
And you've never fawned or pleaded, 
So. v^'e love you, little tyke. 

Providence was always with you, 

Though at times you made a stand, 
Even 'gainst the bone and sinew 

Of the whole united land. 
You have marched in the procession, 

With your head high up and true, 
And you've never made profession 

Bigger than you'd try to do. 



While you're not a whale, my honey. 

You have caught them by the school ; 
Sure 3'ou know the way to money. 

And you get it, as a rule. 
While your land is small, the water 

That you have is really fine. 
And we're with you, kidlet daughter, 

Cutest in the fishing line. 

93 




SOUTH CAROLINA. 

SO COMES TPIE KTXCJ. 

A FRAGILE spray and then a yellow bloom. 
A single day of g-old, and ere 'tis eve. 
The yellow leaflets fold in pink ; the loom 
Of night its sable mysteries will weave, 
And 'mong- them, at the dawn, the flower glows. 
Crimson and closed as 'twere the bnd of rose. 

Then with the season grows the emerald boll, 

From ont whose bosom bnrsts the snowy locks. 

The life and hope, the body and the sonl. 

Of something greater than the mines and flocks 

Of all the land ; a power and wealth. 

Leading a train of fortune and of health. 

This is the birth of Cotton who was King, 
And royal yet, althongh his realm and state 

No more with song of chivalry shall ring. 
Bnt on his moods the lords of Commerce wait ; 

He clothes the world and feeds the hnngry mouth 

Of humble folk ; he g-iorifies the South. 



95 




SITTING BULL, SIOUX INDIAN CHIEF. 
South Dakota takes its name from a family of Indian tribes. 
Witli few exceptions it is a very large, wavy prairie. The noted Black 
Hills and bad lands, scenes of intense fights with Indians and the death 
of General Custer, are in the southwest portion. South Dakota is a ce- 
real State, and there is also an abundance of gold, silver and other metals. 

96 




SOUTH DAKOTA. 

THE PIONEER. 

WHEN here, from toward the rising- sun, 
^Yas heard the white man's axe and gun ; 
The forest bowed before his hand, 
And, as a garden, bloomed the land ; 
The plowshare turned the virgin soil. 
And rich reward repaid the toil 
Of every hardy pioneer 
That built his home and labored here. 
Bold progress blazed the w^ay, and blest 
This opening Eden of the w^est. 

Then came o'er valley, hill and stream, 

The echoing, wild and startling scream, 

Of swiftly flying, tire fed steed, 

And in his dashing, rushing speed. 

Sowing broadcast, far and near, 

Wealth and strength in his proud career, 

And thus along these plains and hills, 

Cities, villages and mills 

Have risen as though genii hands 

Had wrought where this achievement stands. 



97 




ROBERT LOVP: TAYLOR. 

n^^^R^^^^^F ^' ^- Senator and several times Governor of TpnnesMPP 
Familiarly known as "Fiddling Bob." His fiddle and bow ^^''''^^^^' 
98 




TENNESSEE. 



A SONG FOR TENNESSEE. 

AHUNDKED years, dear Tennessee; 
A hundred years and one, 
Among- the sisterhood of States, 
And duties nobly done : 
Yet never shone a brig-hter smile 

Upon a fairer face 
Than thine, proud daughter of the South, 
Nor one of sweeter g-race. 

So here's to thee, 

Dear Tennessee, 
Far famed in song- and story ; 

And may you be 

Forever free, 
And clothed in love and glory. 

A hundred years, dear Tennessee, 

Of honor, worth and truth ; 
A hundred years, and you have g-rown 

In strength and rosy youth ; 
The summers come and smiling go, 

And leave the gentle trace 
Of health and joy, and beauty's glow 

Upon thy wholesome face. 

A hundred years, dear Tennessee. 

And m.ay ten thousand more 
Bring all the wealth of happiness 

That they may have in store. 
To thee, and thine, oh, lovely one ! 

So shall thy children sing 
A psalm of praise, a song of love. 

And make thy mountains ring. 



99 




GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

General Sam. Houston, Ex-President of Texas, was made Commander- 
in-Chief in the Texan War, and in 1836 fought tlie decisive battle of San 
Jacinto, completely annihilated the Mexican army, and achieved the 
Independence of Texas. After her annexation to the United States he 
was elected Governor of Texas. 

100 




TEXAS. 

THE LONE STAE STATE. 

EMPIKE is thine, vast, wide and strong ? 
Land of heroes, sun and song; 
Your history is an epic and a glory. 
From surging sea across the plain, 
Far to the West, you hold domain. 
And honor lights thy brilliant story- 
Proud Texas. 
By deeds of true and gallant men, 
Thv place was won, and in the ken 
Of all t'ke world, thy star is highest, bnghtest, 
A sovereign State, you fought the ^^a^, 
From out a dark and threatening f f ' 
To where the skies are bluest, purest, lightest 
Brave Texas. 
Vast empire at the Southern gates, 
TJpp-al amid the radiant States, 
And Sow'ed by progi^ess, commerce and success, 
Thou reignest, royal, mighty one. 
Beneath eternal summer's sun 
And in the balmiest breezes' soft caress- 
Queen Texas. 
Houston and Austin are ^Wne own ; 
Men greater than the proudest throne 
M^y evir boast, except in pomp and flourish. 
Crockett, Bowie and the Alamo, 
And Travis, in thy story glow, 
All these and more thy records fondly cherisn, 
Free Texas. 
Bright and glorious, from afar, 

TheU- breaths of love about thee ever tw.nmg, 
Dear Texas. 
101 




mm^ 



UTAH* 

DESERET. 

AS from Mount Nebo's lofty height 
The leader, Moses, scanned 
The fields of Caanan, fair and bright, 
Old Israel's promised land, 
So from the Wasatch gleamed afar 

The land of Deseret, 
As guided by its western star, 

The sight of Mormon met 
As fair a land as ever lay 
Beneath the ether dome, 
And for the host a brighter day, 
A refuge and a home. 

With courage, thrift and high emprise, 

This brave, devoted band 
Strove well beneath the cordial skies 

Of Utah's goodly land, 
And from their toil an empire grew. 

Now welded with the States, 
A sister strong, and kind, and true. 

An offspring of the fates 
And furies that have fought with man, 

'Mid trial, pain and wrong. 
Since human history began 

Its wail, and psalm, and song. 



103 




INCLINE IN A VERMONT SLATE QUARRY, 

Vermont, the •' Green Mountain State," derives its name from thie 
mountains wliicti occupy it and wtiicti are rich in ores and stone. The 
marbles and slates especially possess fine qualities and are mucn m de* 
mand in the building trades. A staple production is wool. 

104 




VERMONT. 

THE GKEEN MOUNTAIN STATE. 

TWO of your sisters, dear Vermont, 
Had such fond love for you, 
That one time they decided 

To divide you 'twixt the two, 
But Ethan Allen came along. 

With his Green Mountain Boys, 
And York and Hampshire hearkened to 
The purport of their noise. 

With help from friend Connecticut, 

Ticonderoga fell 
To Allen and his mountain boys, 

And, strange as 'tis to tell, 
Vermont packed up her statehood 

And carried it around, 
Without a real capital. 

Till Montpelier was found. 

Then she flirted some with Britain, 

But settled down, at last. 
As one of this good sisterhood, 

In union strong and fast ; 
She, first of all the States, to break 

The bonds of slavery, 
Thus set the pattern for mankind 

Of fullest libertv. 



105 




PATRICK HENRY ADDRESSING THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION. 

Patrick Henry, orator and statesman, was born in Virginia, May 
29th, 1786. He was a zealous patriot in the War of the Revolution, and a 
delegate to the First General Congress in Philadelphia, In 1774. March 
2Bd, 1775, before the Virginia Convention, he made his eloquent speech : 
" I know not what course others may take ; but as for me, give me 
liberty, or give me death." He was elected Grovernor of Virginia in 1776. 

106 




VIRGINIA. 

THE OLJJ DOMI.XIO.N. 

0' 

'T^HINE is the nation's history, Virginia; 
' Mother of Presidents and States. 

Upon thy proud escutcheon is engraved 
Scenes from the Furies and tlie Fates. 



'• The Virgin Queen," from whose eventful reign 
And realm, bold and adventuring came 
The cavaliers w^ho sought to glorify. 
Anew, her crown, gave thee thy name. 

Despite the trials of the wilderness. 

The savagery of Indian foe, 
Disease and famine, and the craft of pelf, 

Thy strength withstood and vanquished woe. 

Undaunted, true and noble, hast thou been. 
Along thy high and glorious way, 
And all the tempest night and thunder crash 
Have served to clear thy after day. 



107 





GEOIK i K AV ASH 1 NGToN. 
George Washington, after whom the .State of Washington was 
named, and who wa^s called "The Father of Our Country," was Cmfi- 
mander in Chief of the Continental Forces in the War of tiie Revolution 
He was chosen first President of the United States, and inLfgurated at 
hf<rHl''tH^'r^?,'"i^^S' ^^^^' ^-e-el^^ted in 1792, but declin?ra thtrd^ erm 1 
his death, In 1799, he was mourned by the whole nation 

108 




WASHINGTON. 

THE EVERGREEN STATE. 

HURRAH for the land of the setting snn ! 
Hurrah for the State of Washington ! 
Hurrah for the men and women, and all, 
Who came io make the forests fall ! 
Hurrah for every pioneer 
That built his humble cabin here ! 

Hurrah for the day when first begun 
The march toward the rising sun ; 
When opening 'fore the axe and gun 
This land was seen and doubly won ! 
Hurrah for the men with brawn and brain ! 
Who brouffht fair Prog-ress here to reign ! 



Hurrah for the cities, towns and fields. 
And all their homes, and hopes, and yields ! 
Hurrah for the rostrum, press and pen — 
Beneath the rule of worthy men — 
And all the blessed good they've done 
For our beloved Washington ! 

Hurrah for the new and gleaming gem 
That glints within the banner's hem ; 
That shines upon the nation's shield 
And in the flag's pure azure field ! 
Hurrah for the land of the settting sun ! 
Hurrah for the State of Washington. 

109 





WEST VIRGINIA. 

A CHILD OF WAR. 

THEKE are stories from thy inoinitains, 
That thy creeks and rivers tell. 
As they gurgle from their fountains 
And sweep through gorge and dell ; 
There are tales of wartime glory. 

In deeds of gallant men, 
Who wrote a book of storj'. 
With the pioneer's keen pen. 

The gun, and knife, and hatchet, 

Were the implements that day, 
To write life and attach it 

To where they blazed the way. 
Wild child of war and battle, 

Thine is a startling tale. 
Borne on the roar and rattle 

Of the storm king's fiercest gale. 

But now the tempest's bellow 

Is hushed, and the smoke-choked air 
Is soft, and clear, and mellow. 

And the fragrance of peace is there ; 
Success dwells in thy mountains ; 

Home, love and hope are thine ; 
Fair fortune beams in thy fountains 

That sprinkle thy fig tree and vine. 



Ill 




ONE OF THE MANY BEAUTIFUL LAKES IN WLSCONSLN 

Wisconsin is nicknamed the " Badger State." In addition to Lakes 
Michigan and Superior, there are numerous smaller and beautiful lakes 
which are well stocked with fish. Iron, lead and copper are minerals 
that abound, and in the northern portion dense forests cover the land. 
Agriculture is a great industry. 



112 




WISCONSIN. 

"THE RADGEK STATE." 

SWEET corn and cucumbers, 
TNinipkins, peas and beans, 
Potatoes, squash, tomatoes. 
And every sort of greens ; 
Apples, pears and peaches, 

^Melons, grapes and phnns. 
Things that people want t'o eat, 
And so the market hums. 



Cranberries for the turkeys 

That Christmas surely brings— 
Before that Thanksgiving, 

With its jolly load of things. 
Old Wisconsin sends them to us, 

While keeping lots at home. 
And the way the world enjoys it 

Seems like honey in the comb. 

There never ^vas a ])adger 

That lived within the State, 
Unless the creature might have been 

Some tourist's traveling mate. 
Then why they should have tacked to 3'ou 

That fuzzy, old nickname. 
Is queer enough, but you are fine, 

Wisconsin, just the same. 



113 




" TELL US A STORY, 'BUFFALO BILL.' " 

William Frederick Cody, generally known as "Buffalo Bill," was 
born in 1H45. He acquired the nickname of "Buffalo Bill " by his feat 
of killing 4280 buffaloes in 18 months, to provide food for the laborers on 
the Kansas Pacific Railroad, lie was a guide and scout in the Indian 
country, and in 1883 organized the Wild A^'est Show. 

114 




WYOMING. 



THE COWBOY. 

A SCENE that is set in the white silhouette 
Of the loftv, snowy mountains : 
On the swart, gray plains, where silence reigns 
Far from the music of fountains. 
Here the longhorns graze, through the changeless days- 
Brown herds that wander, straying, 
Through all of the light and into the night, 
Where the coyote's cubs are playing. 

Brown as a statue of bronze is he; 

Manlv and strong, jolly and free; 

The foothills echo the song he sings ; 

His saddle's a throne that is better than kings , 

And the cowboy has no tears or fears, 

As he rides the range and herds the steers, 

With a laugh that ripples and rings, 

And a " Whoop ! who-ee ! who-ee !" 

He rose from a feast and came out of the east, 

With life in his pulsing veins; 
And scorning a track, on his broncho's back. 

He flings to his beast the reins. 
Gay, careless and free, in the saddle, is he, 

A king in a realm his own. 
And the lessons he learned in school he has turned 

To trimmings for his throne. 

He is wild, you are told, but your honor and gold 

Are safe where he. is on guard; 
He flouts the cheap ranks, and he needs no banks, 

Steel-riveted, bolted and barred, 
To a brotherly call he will render all 

That reason, or more, could entreat; 
He is open and square, and his heart is as bare 

As the hoofs of his broncho's feet. 
115 




PRESIDENT THOMAS WOODHOW WILSON. 



PRESIDENT WILSOFS 

GEEAT MESSAGE 



An Historic Document which should be preserved. 



I HAVE called the Congress into extraordinary session because 
there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, 
and made immediately, which it was neither right nor con- 
stitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility 
of making. 

On the 3rd of February last I officially laid before you the 
extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German (lovern- 
ment that on and after the first day of February it was its pur- 
pose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use 
its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either 
the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of 
Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany 
within the jNIediterranean. That had seemed to be the object 
of the German submarine vs^arfare earlier in the war, but since 
April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat re- 
strained the commanders of its undersea craft, in conformity with 
its proinise, then given to us, that passenger boats should not be 
sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels 
which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance 
was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews 
were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open 
boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard 
enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance 
in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain 
degree of restraint was observed. 

The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels 
of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, 
their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the 
bottom without warning, and without thought of help or mercy 
for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with 
those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying 
relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, 
though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the 
proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were dis- 

117 



118 PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE. 

tinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk 
with tlie same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. 

I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would 
in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed 
to humane practices of civilized nations. International law 
had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be 
respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation has right 
of dominion, and where lay the free highways of the world. 
By painful stage after stage has that law been bviilt up, with 
meagre enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that 
could be accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of 
w^hat the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. 

This minimum of right the German Government has swept 
aside, under the plea of retaliation and necessity, and because 
it had no weapons which it could use at sea, except these, which 
it is impossible to employ, as it is employing them, without 
throwing to the wind all scruples of humanity or of respect 
for the understandings that were supposed to underlie tt*, '., .,r- 
course of the world. 

I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, im- 
mense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and whole- 
sale destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women 
and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the 
darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and 
legitimate. Property can be paid for ; the lives of peaceful 
and innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine 
warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. 

It is a war against all nations. American ships have been 
sunk, American lives taken, in wa3^s which it has stirred us very 
deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral 
and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the 
waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. 

The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide 
for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves 
must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness 
of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. 
We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be re- 
venge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the 
nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of 
which we are only a single champion. 

When I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February last, 
I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with 
arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our 
right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But 
armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because sub- 
marines are in effect outlaws, when used as the German sub- 
marines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impos- 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE. 119 

sible to defend ships against their attacks as tlie law of nations 
has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against 
privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving- chase \ipon the open 
sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim neces- 
sity indeed, to endeavor to destroy them liefore they have shown 
their own intention. They must be dealt with upon sight, if 
dealt with at all, 

The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use 
arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, 
even in the defense of rights which uo modern publicist has ever 
before questioned their right to defend. The intimation is con- 
ve3'ed that the armed guards which we have placed on our mer- 
chant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject 
to be dealt with as pirates w^ould be. Armed neutrality is in- 
effectual enough at best; in such circumstances and in the face 
of such pretensions, it is w^orse than ineffectual ; it is likely 
only to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically 
eeT'"-n to draw us into the war without either the rights or the 
e. '".uess of belligerents. There is one choice we cannot make, 

we are incapable of making ; we will not choose the path of sub- 
mission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our 
people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against which 
we now array ourselves are no common wrongs; they cut to the 
very roots of human life. 

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical char- 
acter of the step I am taking, and of the grave responsibilities 
which it involves, but in unhesitating' obedience to what I deem 
my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the 
recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact 
nothing less than war against the Government and people of the 
United States; that it formalh" accept the status of belligerent 
which has thus been thrust upon it ; and that it take immediate 
steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of 
defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all its re- 
sources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms 
and end the war. 

What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost 
practicable co-operation in counsel and action with the Govern- 
ments now at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the 
extension to those Governments of the most liberal financial 
credits, in order that our resources may so far as possible be 
added to theirs. 

It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the 
material resources of the coimtry to siipply the materials of war 
and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant 
and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. 

It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in 



120 PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE. • 

all respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means 
of dealing with the enemy's submarines. 

It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of 
the United States, already provided for by law in case of war, of 
at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon 
the principle of universal liability to service, and also the author- 
ization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon 
as they may be needed and can be handled in training. 

It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits 
to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably 
be sustained, by the present generation, by well conceived tax- 
ation. 

I say sustained, so far as may be equitable by taxation, because 
it seems to me that it woidd be most unwise to base the credits 
which will now be necessary, entirely on money borrowed. It 
is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to protect our people, so 
far as we may, against the very serious hardships and evils 
which would be likely to arise out of the inflation which would 
be produced by vast loans. 

In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be 
accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of 
interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in 
the equipment of our own military forces with the duty — for 
it will be a very practical duty — of supplying the nations already 
at w^ar with Germany with the materials which they can obtain 
only from us or by our assistance. They are in the field and we 
should help them in every way to be effective there. 

I shall take the liberty of suggesting through the several execu- 
tive departments of the Government, for the consideration of your 
committees, measures for the accomplishment of the several 
objects I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure 
to deal wdth them as having been framed after very careful 
thought by the branch of the Government upon whom the res- 
ponsibility of conducting the w^ar and safeguarding the nation 
will most directly fall,. 

While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let 
us be very clear and make very clear to all the world, what our 
motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been 
driven from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy 
events of the last two months, and I do not believe that the 
thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by them. I 
have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind 
when I addressed the Senate on the 22nd of January last; the 
same that I had in mind when T addressed the Congress on the 
3d of February and on the 26th of February. Our object now, as 
then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the 
life of the world, as against selfish and autocratic power, and to 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE. 121 

set up among the really free and self-governed peoples of the 
world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth 
insure the observance of those principles. 

Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of 
the world is involved and the freedom, of its peoples, and the 
menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of auto- 
cratic governments, backed by organized force which is controlled 
wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have 
seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at 
the beginning of an age in ^vhich it will be insisted that the same 
standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall 
be observed among the nations and their governments that are 
observed among the individual citizens of civilized States. 

We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no 
feeling toward them, but one of sympathy and friendship. It 
was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in 
entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or 
approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be de- 
termined upon in the old, unhappy days, when peoples were no- 
where consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and 
waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambi- 
tious men who were accustomed to use their fellow men as 
pawns and tools. 

Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor States with 
spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical 
posture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike 
and make conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked 
out only under cover and where no one has the right to ask 
questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggres- 
sion, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be 
worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of 
courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow 
and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public 
opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning 
all the nation's affairs. 

A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except 
by a partnership of democratic nations. No, autocratic govern- 
ments could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its 
covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of 
opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away ; the plottings of 
inner circles who could plan what they would and render ac- 
count to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. 
Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady 
to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any 
narrow interest of their own. 

Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to 
our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful 



122 PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE. 

and heartening" things that liave been happening within the last 
few weeks in Russia? Russia was known by those who knew 
her best to have been always in fact democratic at heart in all 
the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships 
of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual 
attitude toward life. The autocracy that crowned the summit 
of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as 
was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, 
character, or purpose ; and now it has been shaken off and the 
great, generous Russian people have been added, in all their 
naive majesty and might, to the forces that are fighting for free- 
dom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner 
for a League of Honor. 

One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prus- 
sian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from 
the very outset of the jjresent war it has filled our unsuspecting 
communities, and even our offices of government, with spies 
and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national 
unity of counsel, our peace within and wiithout, our industries 
and our commerce. Indeed, it is now evident that its spies 
were here even before the war began ; and it is unhappily not a 
matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice, 
that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously 
near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of 
the country, have been carried on at the instigation, with the 
support, and even under the personal direction of official agents 
of the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the 
United States. 

Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we 
have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible 
upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any 
hostile feeling or purpose of the German people toward us (who 
were, no doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but 
only in the selfish designs of a Government that did what it 
pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their 
part in serving to convince us at last that that Government en- 
tertains no real friendship for us, and means to act against our 
peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up 
enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the 
German JNIinister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. 

We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we 
know that in such a Government, following such methods, we 
can never have a friend ; and that in the presence of its organized 
power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not Avhat 
purpose, can be no assured security for the democratic govern- 
ments of the world. We are now about to accept the gage of 
battle with this natural foe of liberty and shall, if necessary, 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE. 123 

spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its 
pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the 
facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus 
for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its 
peoples, the German peoples included ; for the rights of nations, 
great and small, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose 
their way of life and of obedience. 

The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must 
be planted upon the tested foundations of political libert3\ We 
have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no domin- 
ion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compen- 
sation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of 
the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied 
when those rights have Ijeen made as secure as the faith and the 
freedom of nations can make them. 

Just because we fight without rancor and withoiit selfish object, 
seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share 
with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our 
operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe 
with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play 
we profess to be fighting for. 

I have said nothing of the Governments allied with the Imperial 
Government of Germanj^ because they have not made war upon 
us or challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The 
Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified 
indorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless sub- 
marine warfare, adopted no^v without disguise by the Imperial 
German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for 
this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the i^mbassador 
recently accredited to this Government by the Imperial and 
Eo3'al Government of Austria-Hungary ; but that Government has 
not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United 
States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at 
least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the author- 
ities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly 
forced into it, because there are no other means of defending 
our rights. 

It will be easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in 
a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, 
not with enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any 
injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition 
to an irresponsible Government which has thrown aside all con- 
siderations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. 

We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German 
people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establish- 
ment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us, 
however hard it may be for them for the time being to believe 



124 PRESIDENT WILSON'S GREAT MESSAGE. 

that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their 
present Government through all these bitter months because of 
that friendship, exercising- a patience and forbearance which 
would otherwise have been impossible. 

We shall happily still have an opportunity to prove that 
friendship in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions 
of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live 
among- us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it 
toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the 
Government in the hour of test. They are most of them as true 
and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty 
or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking- 
and restraining the few who may be of a ditferent mind and pur- 
pose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a 
firm hand of stern repression ; but, if it lifts its head at all, it 
will lift it only here and there and without countenance except 
from a lawless and malignant few. 

It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the 
Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There 
are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of 
us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great, peaceful people into 
war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civili- 
zation itself seeming to be in the balance. 

But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight 
for the things which we have carried nearest our hearts — for 
democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority 
to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and 
liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right 
by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety 
to all nations and make the world itself at last free. 

To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, 
everything that we are and everything that we have, with the 
pride of those who know that the day has come when America 
is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles 
that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has 
treasured. 

God helping her, she can do no other. 



